Curse of the East (Fili/The Hobbit Fanfiction)

Chapter 28 - Durin's Day

It took two days of constant paddling; switching off every so often before we finally reached the shoreline. Thorin had already told us it would take us two days more to hike to the mountain; leaving us with one day to get to the hidden entrance and find the keyhole.Easier said than done given the size of the mountain. Still we had a map, and we were certainly going to try.

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By the time we maneuvered the boat toward the shore my arms felt like they would indeed fall off; and looking around it became clear quite quickly that the others were suffering from the same problem. It had been a long two days, but all of us had been well aware of how much time we didn't have; and that had kept us going through our exhaustion. Though we had managed a few hours of sleep between turns it hadn't done very much for us. Still it felt good to stand on solid ground again; I had never had a problem with water but that was just too much for one trip; especially in such a small boat. We pulled the boat up onto shore, securing it to some large stones before starting on our way.

The fastest way to the mountain was over hills and rocks; uneven ground and rocky terrain. I had hoped walking would give my arms a break,but I found myself doing a lot more climbing than I had anticipated;which quickly made the muscles in my arms go numb to the point I could no longer feel the pain as I climbed. It was slow going, and it was quite confusing when the gates of Erebor would look so close; but at the same time we still had more than a day of walking yet to go.

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I looked around, saddened by how desolate and empty the area looked;nothing like the magnificent kingdom I had always imagined. Though I suppose that's to be expected when a place is ravaged by dragon fire;and left uncared for for over a century and a half. Balin was at my side suddenly, a sad look on his face.

"It's so quiet," I whispered, my voice still sounding so loud in the silent air.

"It wasn't always like this lass," Balin replied, he gestured around at the dirt; his eyes far away as though remembering things from days long ago. "Once, these slopes were lined with woodlands," He began, his voice heavy. "And the trees, were filled with birdsong."I saw a single Thrush sitting on one of the larger boulders, staring at me as though it understood what we were saying. I frowned, the words on the map echoing through my mind again. We were running out of time. Fili walked slowly up beside me, a smile parting his beard.He wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Don't worry," He whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of my head, "We've got plenty of food, weapons, supplies and we're making really good time." I nodded, turning when Thorin ran past us. Fili followed quickly after him, pulling me along beside him as we found ourselves standing on an overlook. The land stretched out below us, and I saw what had once been a huge and vibrant city reduced to nothing more than a memory of what had once been.

"This was once the city of Dale," I whispered, and I felt Fili's arm tighten around me; as though ghosts from the past were going to comeback and take me away.

"Now it is a ruin," Balin spat, stepping up beside us. "The desolation, of Smaug." I frowned, that was indeed a little dramatic; but at the same time he was absolutely right. We kept moving, trying to ignore the pain in our hearts as we walked ever closer to the destroyed city.